These days, it can be hard to really feel fascinated by something, and it seems like everything has already been discovered and mapped out in books and social media. But the world, especially nature, still contains a ton of wonder that we've never seen. From the small to the exceptionally large, these rare moments captured on camera by everyday people will leave you in awe. So keep scrolling to see the world around you in a new light.
Saturn From a Backyard Telescope
When we think about the other planets in our solar system, the first thing that comes to mind are usually images taken by NASA, either up close or far away. But you don't need some billion-dollar satellite or telescope to catch a glimpse of some of the most spectacular planets in our solar system. Someone captured this image of Saturn using nothing but a telescope in their backyard, and it looks gorgeous.
You can clearly see Saturn's iconic rings, but you can also make out a melody of different colors and even some of the gaps in the planet's rings, all using a simple backyard telescope.
An Iridescent Python
Regardless of whether you do or don't love snakes, the snake in this photo is pretty wild to look at. It's a reticulated python, but it has a genetic mutation that gives it an iridescent color instead of the usual green and brown pattern that these snakes are known to have. Basically, the snake looks incredibly shiny, and the colors only grow brighter when the animal is exposed to sunlight.
There are different shades of blue and turquoise, as well as green, yellow, and orange. The python has all the colors of the rainbow and then some extras.
A Composite Shot Of The Moon
While there are some photos of planets on this list, you don't have to go that far to find something really spectacular. Take the moon for example. We see it nearly every night, but we don't often take the time to really look at it. Someone posted this composite photo of the moon after staying up till 3 am to take a bunch of images and put them together.
By stitching a bunch of different images together, they were able to create an extremely detailed shot of the moon and all of its different craters and colors that really pop.
A Blood-Red Sunrise In Australia
This photo was captured in a town called Alice, in Australia. There was probably a storm rolling in that day, but the light from the sunrise hit the clouds in just the right way to turn them blood red. It looks amazing, if also kind of scary. We're sure there's a scientific explanation behind why the clouds look like this, but we'd probably both freak out and be awed if we saw this in real life.
There are som amazing photos out there of different sunrises and sunsets, but this might be the most unique we've ever seen, due to the color and the nature of the clouds.
Male Grandalas
This is a really interesting bird. The birds in this photo that are brown are female grandalas, while the males are a deep, deep blue color. Their Latin name is Grandala coelicolor, which roughly translates to "heaven colored." And it's easy to see why they were given that name after seeing this photo. Grandalas are the only species in their entire family tree, meaning they're very unique from an evolutionary standpoint.
If you want to see one of these birds for yourself, then you'll have to travel to certain areas of the Himalayas unless you're lucky enough to already live there.
Lightning From Inside A Plane
If you're one of those people who get nervous at the very thought of flying, then you'd probably rather see this one in photo form, than in person. Someone on a plane captured the exact moment lightning struck inside what looked like a large thunderhead cloud formation. Luckily, it appears to be pretty far from the plane itself, but it looks really spectacular, particularly in the way it appears to continue inside the cloud.
From the photo, it's also a lot easier to tell just how much power is contained in the lightning strike, since the photo was taken from a relatively close distance.
Cabbage Field Covered In Snow
This photo is more humorous than dramatic. It shows a cabbage field after it's just snowed. All of those little bumps in the snow are different heads of cabbage. It sort of looks like someone just went around and made a bunch of snowcones and spread them around a field. Luckily, cabbage is a cold weather crop, so most of these cabbages should've turned out okay, so long as the field didn't get too much frost.
It also looks like a bunch of marshmallows, with the color of the snow and the shape of all the cabbages. Either way, it's an odd thing to see.
An Apple Branch Growing On Another Tree
Depending on how much you know about trees and botany, you may be familiar with what's depicted in this photo. It's a seemingly normal tree that has one branch that looks completely different. That's because the branch belongs to an apple tree. At some point, someone grafted the branch of an apple tree onto whatever the larger tree is, and now the two are one, and the apple branch just produces apples.
It looks like some sort of Frankenstein tree, and apparently, some people even graft a bunch of different fruit trees together to make one tree that produces everything from pears, apples, plums, and peaches.
Bird Eyelashes Are Composed Of Feathers
We guess it sort of makes sense that bird eyelashes would be made from feathers instead of hairs, but we've never really thought about birds having eyelashes before. That, too, should make sense, considering eyelashes are meant to keep stuff like dust and debris from getting into our eyes, and that seems like a handy tool when you're flying through the air. Still, this bird's eyelashes look incredibly tiny and delicate.
There must be hundreds, if not thousands, of tiny little feathers that make up each eyelash. It's probably also worth noting that some birds have incredibly long eyelashes that almost look like hair.
Green Jellyfish Under A Boat
Someone captured this incredible image of a smack of jellyfish just chilling out under a boat somewhere. We're not entirely sure what kind of jellyfish they are, or where this photo was taken, but we do know that the jellyfish themselves probably aren't green. It's probably just the water that's green, and the light from the sun is intensifying it, but it's still an eerie yet somewhat calming photo.
The image looks like it could've been taken on an alien planet or come from a movie or game. It also looks like it wouldn't be very fun to fall in.
A Hummingbird Nest
We're all probably pretty used to seeing slow-mo captures of hummingbirds in action, but have you ever considered what their nests look like? It turns out that they look just as magical as the birds themselves. Someone found this tiny cradled in an opening on a branch. As you can see, it's incredibly small and barely bigger than a quarter. There are also two tiny, delicate eggs hidden away inside.
Hummingbirds have been known to make their nests out of things like tiny pieces of lichen and even to add some cushioning in the form of spiderwebs and flowers.
An Endangered Peregrine Falcon
When most people see these birds, they're usually flying at insanely fast speeds on a nature documentary, but someone got an up-close encounter when this young bird wandered into their backyard. Peregrine falcons are one of the fastest birds on the planet, and they're only starting to recover from decades of dwindling numbers. It might not look like it, but the little guy or girl in this photo is going to grow up to be sleek and agile.
The person who posted the photo said that the Wildlife Commission was called and that they'd either reunite the bird or take it to a center for rehabilitation. It's probably safe to say that it was most likely rehabilitated and eventually released since that's usually what happens in cases like this.
A Pink Bottlenose Dolphin
Believe it or not, there is actually a species of pink dolphin that lives in the Amazon Basin. This dolphin was photographed in Louisiana, and it's actually a bottlenose, which is pretty common along coasts. However, it's albino, which is why it looks a bit like its cousins further south. It also looks really healthy, so its pink color probably isn't causing it too much trouble when it comes to hunting.
But we imagine that whoever snapped this photo was probably taken off guard when they saw this dolphin for the first time, especially considering how rare they are.
An Incredibly Tiny Maple Leaf
We've all probably seen a maple leaf, whether you recognized it as such or not. The maple leaf is the leaf that's on the Canadian flag. However, they're usually pretty large. The one in this photo is incredibly tiny. It makes sense that there would be tiny maple leaves, but we've never actually seen them, so this is a bit of a shock, particularly since it just looks like someone took a regular-sized leaf and shrunk it down.
It also has a really beautiful color, which is another surprise since we've always just pictured maple leaves as more of a burnt orange color, but of course, they do get a deep red.
Spherical Cloud Over Japan
There are some really rare and weird-looking cloud formations that can form when conditions are just right, but this might be our favorite. Someone in Japan snapped this photo of a spherical cloud just hovering over the town. It almost looks fake, but it's a real phenomenon that occurs when wind conditions are just right, and they swirl in a way that causes a cloud to turn into a ball.
We're not sure how rare it is, but since this is the only actual photo we've ever seen of a cloud like this, it probably doesn't happen very often.
Golden Ladybugs
Golden ladybugs, or golden tortoise beetles as they're sometimes called, are a separate species from ladybugs that can be found in the Northwest. As you can tell from the photo, they have this extravagant golden hue to them that almost makes them look fake. However, you should be a bit careful if you ever come across one because they also tend to bite, which can be pretty painful despite their small size.
Like ladybugs, these guys eat aphids and other pests, so they're really beneficial for gardeners and farmers to keep around. There are also a couple of other species of beetles around the world that have a gold hue.
Pink Katydid
The person who posted this photo said that they found this pink "grasshopper" in their yard. Pink grasshoppers do exist, and their genetic mutation makes them really rare. However, this looks more like a katydid than a grasshopper. The katydid in the photo still has a mutation that makes it look pink and it's still rare, but you can kind of tell the difference from the long, thin antennae and the slightly larger wings.
The mutation only occurs in about one out of every 500 katydids, and they can actually be a couple of different colors, including bright yellow or purple, depending on the mutation.
The Fata-Morgana Mirage
This one is really kind of trippy. It's a photo of cruise ships that appear to be floating through the sky. They look like that because of something called the Fata-Morgana phenomenon. It happens when something is just over the horizon, but the light travels through different layers of air to get to your eyes. You've probably seen something similar if you've ever been to the beach and seen a boat way off in the distance, just not as pronounced as the ships in this photo.
We found a couple of different origins for the name, but our favorite is that Fata-Morgana is an Italian word that roughly translates to "Morgan the fairy," and some would describe what they saw as the work of magic.
A Tree That's Been to the Moon
If you've never heard of "moon trees," then don't worry, you're not the only one, but the story is really quite fascinating. NASA decided to take hundreds of seedlings to the moon aboard Apollo 14 in the early 1970s. These seedlings were then brought back to earth, where they were spread throughout the United States, planted, and grew perfectly fine. You can still see a lot of them in random places in the US today.
However, there wasn't any sort of national registry to track all of the seedlings, so most of the trees have just been lost to history and don't have plaques to tell them apart from other trees.
A Blue Mushroom
Our first thought when seeing this photo was the "Smurfs," and then our second thought was that you probably wouldn't want to eat this mushroom. The person who posted the photo didn't say what kind of mushroom it is or whether or not it's edible, but there are some species of blue mushrooms that are edible and that are supposed to taste pretty good, even when eaten on their own.
However, we probably wouldn't recommend trying a blue mushroom out for yourself if you ever come across one in the woods unless you're really sure it's safe to eat.
The Backside Of A Peacock
We can probably all agree that the front of the peacocks is absolutely gorgeous. It's almost as if someone just took a random bird and adorned it in all kinds of different jewelry, colors, and an extravagant gown. But what about the back of a peacock? It turns out that they still look pretty cool, even from behind. Someone took this photo of a peacock from behind, and you can still make out some patterns.
Instead of a bright, colorful gown, it looks more like someone dressed a bird up for a black tie affair. All of its tail feathers are also white, which wasn't expected.
An Intricate "Dew" Pattern On Leaves
Someone snapped this photo of their strawberry plants and posted it online. They said that they were surprised at the way the dew accumulated along the petals of the leaves. However, this isn't actually dew. Instead, it's something that plants naturally do called guttation. The plant is actually releasing some water out onto the leaf itself. This apparently happens when the humidity and the root pressure are both high.
The pressure on the roots causes the plant to secrete excess moisture, and since humidity is high the moisture stays there for longer, and it appears as though it's dew.
Purple And Pink Beans
If you've ever had these, then they probably don't look that unusual to you. However, for everyone else who's never seen beans that are purple and pink, these look really magical. They're called scarlet runner beans and they're actually a very old variety of runner beans. As you might imagine, as soon as the photo was posted online, a lot of people started comparing them to the magic beans from "Jack and the Beanstalk."
While there's nothing inherently "magical" about these beans, they have been used both as food and occasionally as items in decorations due to their unique purple and pink color patterns.
An Albino Mole
We don't often get to see moles since they spend most of their life underground, but when we do find them, they're usually brown. But not the one in this photo, which looks like it might be albino. It has all-white fur and really pink skin, which doesn't seem like it would be that big of a disadvantage for an animal that spends all of its time hiding under the earth.
While moles tend to be despised by a lot of people, they're actually really beneficial for the environment since they help aerate and mix soil and consume a lot of different pests.
A Huge Banana Palm Leaf
We knew that banana palm leaves could get big, but this photo someone posted of their wife next to a banana palm leaf is kind of crazy. The leaf is more than double her size. The leaf almost looks as though it belongs on some kind of ancient tree. Their size and the fact that they're pretty much waterproof means that they're often used for all kinds of different things.
It's not uncommon for them to be used as a material to keep out rain when building shelters, and they're also often used to wrap food when cooking.
An Odd Tree Formation
A hiker was out walking around, and they said they came across this really unusual-looking tree. It's supposed to look like all the other trees in the background, but as you can see, it has a large spherical-shaped bulge in the middle for some reason. There's no telling what's actually causing it, but it's likely due to either some kind of insect or a fungal infection that's messing with the tree's growth.
Either way, it's not often you see a tree in the wild that looks like it's been trimmed and pruned like a topiary. It's uncanny how perfect the sphere is.
Housing Moving With People Riding On Top
Moving a house this large is kind of rare in and of itself, but having people riding on the balcony of the home is definitely a bit strange. The home itself is gorgeous and it just needs some work, but still, why are there actual people riding down the interstate on top of a house? It's very illegal, if also very cool looking. It kind of looks like it could be a scene out of a movie.
At least, it's pretty apparent that the house itself is going to get plenty of love no matter where it ends up being put. Whoever those people are on the balcony will probably take care of it.
Wing Of A Plane Covered In Bees
We don't often think about it, but airplanes have to be wary of all kinds of animals. Foxes and other small mammals can run out onto runways, and birds can collide and crack windows and damage engines, but bees might be a new one. Someone on a plane passed another plane that was being delayed because a portion of its wing was completely covered in a swarm of bees.
We're not sure if the airport workers called a beekeeper or what they did to remedy the situation, but hopefully, the bees were removed and relocated elsewhere to form a hive.
Inside An Air Mattress
If you've never thought about the inside of your air mattress, then don't worry; we're pretty sure nobody has. At least everyone except for the person who took this photo. It shows the inside of their air mattress and all the little strings connecting the top to the bottom. And if you're wondering what they're there for, it's probably to help keep the mattress from getting too big and to help retain shape.
It also just looks like some sort of alien world for some reason. It's both fascinating to look at and just a little bit creepy and we can't place why.
What's Left Over After Ants Get Into A Lollipop
You've probably seen time-lapses of ants covering and stripping down a bug or small animal. It's pretty amazing how much they're actually able to strip away and in how little time they're able to do it. Someone put this lollipop, still inside its wrapper, outside and let the ants have it. When they were finished, the only thing that was left was the wrapper itself, still shaped like a sphere.
It's so perfect that it kind of just looks like there was nothing inside the wrapper to begin with. However, after seeing all those time-lapses of ants, this isn't too surprising.
A Giant Sunflower
This gardener posted a photo of themselves standing next to a massive sunflower. They didn't say what they did to get the plant so big or if they even did anything at all, but this is probably the largest sunflower we've ever seen. The whole photo also kind of looks like a scene from a horror movie, with the way the plant's leaves are drooping and the way the flower appears to be looking down.
It brings to mind the movie and book about the "triffids" that go around eating people. The movie was from 1963, but it still kind of gives us the creeps.
A Duck In An Uber
Imagine getting in an Uber at the end of a long night out in town, and then you look up to see a duck staring back at you from the passenger seat. That's exactly what happened to the person who took this photo. We're not sure what they were thinking at first, but they probably second-guessed whether or not what they were staring at was real for a second.
The duck must be really well-behaved so that the Uber driver can bring it with him when he goes to work at night; it also probably doesn't hurt when it comes to tips.
This Fish Has A Hole Through It
We've never seen anything like this before. This aquarium owner took a photo of their fish, which has a hole that runs completely through its body. You can literally see right through it. The owner said that the hole doesn't seem to bother the fish and that he eats and swims around pretty normally. They also didn't say how it happened or if they just bought the fish like this.
Our best guess would just be that the fish was punctured by something at one point, and it somehow managed to survive, and the wound eventually healed like this.
Ultra Clear Glacier Water
For some reason, there's nothing more satisfying than crystal-clear water. This person said they were hiking when they came across some glacial water that was so clear you almost couldn't even tell that there was water there. Even when you look at the photo, the only indication of water is from the shadows of ripples cast across the surface of the rocks. Other than that, it just looks like a pile of gravel.
Unfortunately, the fact that there is glacial water here at all probably isn't good news for the glacier, many of which are shrinking and vanishing around the world.
A Stairway That Doesn't Have Switchbacks
This looks kind of insane at first, but there's actually a good reason for it. This flight of stairs continues for 13 floors without having any switchbacks, which you normally see in buildings. It's unclear what building this is, but the idea for the stairs originated after someone noticed that the stairs in the World Trade Centers got clogged up when people were trying to get out of the buildings.
There are a couple of other reasons this works better than stairs with switchbacks, but the designer reportedly got the inspiration for it from a Sim game they played back in the 1990s.
An Incredibly Thick Layer Of Posters
This is really amazing. We're guessing there's a base to a light pole somewhere under all these posters, but you wouldn't actually be able to tell from looking at this photo. After someone cut away a couple of dozen or a couple of hundred layers, it made it possible to actually see just how many posters had been placed here, layer over layer, throughout the years, and it was a lot.
It almost makes you want to just peel away layer after layer to have a look at every poster that's there, but that would probably take ages to actually do.
A Random Group Dressed In Medieval Outfits On A Trail
Sometimes, usually when everything has started to feel boring and mundane, the universe throws some randimness your way. That's what happened to the person who snapped this photo while they were out hiking on a local trail. They just happened to come across another group of hikers who were all dressed in medieval costumes. Well, either that or they took a wrong turn and accidentally stepped back in time.
The likelier answer is that these people were probably just LARPing, or this was taken near a Reinassance fair somewhere, and these guys were just out on a stroll.
A Lonely Cloud Over Taipei
For some reason, this photo just really makes us feel a bit down, but there's also something a bit poetic about seeing a single cloud floating in the sky like this. We're guessing this photo was taken from an airplane as it was flying by. It shows only a single cloud in the entire sky and it's casting but one shadow over the city of Taipei. After this photo was posted, people randomly started sharing their favorite poems about clouds in the comment section.
But the poem, "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" by William Wordsworth probably applies here more so than the rest of the poems mentioned, especially the lines: "I wandered lonely as a cloud / that floats on high o'er vales and hills."
The Actual Size Of A Fiber Optic Cable
If you have fiber optic cables supplying your internet, then all of that data you're using is going through this tiny strand of glass. It's actually quite amazing, and while the name "fiber" optic references the small size of the cable, we've never actually thought it would be this small. Someone posted this photo, and others who said they've worked with fiber optic cables added that they hurt extremely bad when they break off and pierce your hands.
Of course, when these cables are installed, they're mostly installed in bunches that run to multiple different homes or buildings, which is why the holes need to be a bit bigger.
A Threatening Looking Storm Cloud
Most people would probably freak out for a second after seeing something like this in the sky for the simple fact that it sort of looks like a mushroom cloud. Like one of those mushroom clouds made of very big bombs. However, the truth is that it's just the start of a very strong storm system, which is less terrifying but still not great. When a cloud looks like this, it usually means you're about to get a lot of rain and thunder.
The top of the cloud expands, while the bottom of the cloud remains relatively small. It's sucking up all the water it can, which it will then go and dump somewhere in a very short amount of time, along with occasional high winds and lightning.